Journey in a Bottle
by sneakerboxx
Summary: A young man, after waiting for years, sets out on his journey to find his way in the world of Pokemon in the Hoenn Region. Although he struggles with many problems he has his faithful friends to help him along the way.
1. Chapter 1

There is a world... It is an ancient world, filled with many dangers, but many wonders also. It is a world, not unlike our own, where people, humans, live in harmony with the many creatures which inhabit it. They are called Pokemon There are many different types, with many different personalities. As many as the humans that stand by them.

These creatures, these Pokemon partner themselves with humans, form a team to battle, train and perform against and with each other. They come from all over, but in this story, there is only one starting place of consequence. This place is LittleRoot Town.

"Martin! Martin, come on, we're here!" _Wha...? Oh, right. _I opened the door to the moving van, sliding it up and revealing myself to my new home of LittleRoot town.

"You coming Martin? The movers can handle the boxes! come help me out!" The call came from inside the house next to the truck. The house where I'd (hopefully) be spending the next few days and no more at. _Welp, better get in there._

I hopped off the truck and walked into the house, surprised to see a team of Machoke moving furniture and boxes all over the (admittedly nice) house. I walked through the living room and found my mom in the kitchen with her Wingull, who was dutifully handing her utensils to put away from a box.

"There you are! Here I thought you'd fallen off the truck somewhere," she said with a smile. "Now go on upstairs and unpack your room." I sighed, wishing I had a Pokemon of my own to help me, but NOOOOO. Mom said I had to wait till I was 15. 15! can you believe that? 5 years longer than anyone else I knew... But hey, what can you do?

"Alright, mom. I'm going..." _Thank god I'm turning 15 in 2 days. _I thought to myself. I bounced my way up the stairs and into my room, where stacks of boxes were piled around the walls. Luckily my bed was already set up. I opened the first box near my bed, which thankfully contained my computer equipment. _This was going to be a while..._

Hours later, I had finally finished unpacking. My computers, desk, game systems, and finally, my pokeballs. I had dozens of them. Almost a hundred I believe. I had special edition, gold and silver, and my prize. The most expensive pokeball ever made. I had, exactly one, masterball. It was a beautiful red and blue affair. Custom made for me, by my dad, before he... Before he left.

Finally finished, I walked my way back downstairs, where I found my mom passed out on the couch, surrounded by unpacked boxes and a half empty bottle of sake.

"Nice. Thanks mom. First night. Great." I grabbed the half empty bottle and walked outside into the growing twilight. Taking a heavy swig of sake, I ambled my way passed the houses and out towards the edge of town. walking along the trees I soon came to a path and a sign that read:

Beware! Pokemon dwell in the tall grass!

_Pfffft, right._

__I walked on, alone except for my bottle of sake, into the tall grass.


	2. Chapter 2

Heading into the grass, I took another swig from the bottle, before actually taking a notice of where I was going. I looked around and realized that I had went pretty far off the track. Hell, I couldn't even see the track.

_Well, shit._

Looking around, I could ow see the folly in drinking and walking in the woods. I took another hit from the bottle.

Didn't seem so important now. I found myself a nice spot, on a nice rock where I could see the moon and sat down to drink in silence. This place was too beautiful to appreciate sober. I sat there for a while. Every so often taking another drink. I guess you could say I spent my life like that. Waiting. Waiting for something to happen.

Not tonight. After a few moments I noticed something. Red eyes. Red eyes staring at me from through the trees. My breath caught in my throat as I tried to remember what to do in the presence of a wild Pokemon. I stood up, a bit unsteadily, and raised my arms to try to make myself look bigger. The eyes wavered slightly, but did not move, so I let out a staggering shout to scare whatever it was away.

Thankfully, the eyes disappeared for a moment and my breath came back. I sank down onto my backside and took a gigantic swig from my bottle, just in time to notice that the eyes were back. This time about 3 feet above the tops of the trees.

And silhouetted in front of the moon was the largest Pokemon I had ever seen. An Ursaring towering almost 9 feet in the air, glaring at me with murderous red eyes. Without so much as a roar, it crashed through the woods and straight towards me, brushing aside trees like pansies.

My body froze as it reared up in front of me. It's massive paw rose into the air and glowed as it prepared for what looked like a Fury Swipe.

"Absol. Feint Attack." The voice came out of no where, or at least from somewhere my buzzed eyes couldn't see.

But I was able to watch, as a shadow no bigger than a Meowth or small Persian flitted across the clearing, slamming into the massive Ursaring with each pass.

The Ursaring tried to fight back, but the shadow was too quick and eventually the Ursaring had to succumb. It roared it's fury and slowly, almost comically fell back. With a crash, it hit the floor of the clearing.

Out of no where flew a small red and white orb. It struck the Ursarings side and with a quick laser, drew it inside the pokeball.

I stared for a moment, before noticing the shadow from before coming to a rest beside the pokeball. Now that it wasn't moving, could see that it's fur shined bright white in the moonlight and its horns gleamed Black.

"Good work, Absol." Turning my head, I watched a shadow disconnect from the trees. A shadow with long, blonde hair. The shadow resolved itself into a girl, wearing all black. Black pants, tank top, knee high boots and fingerless gloves. She was actually really pretty, too.

"I'm Tesla. I'm guessing your name is "Bait"?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Uh... I. Um. Martin." She looked at me blankly and even her Absol made a noise as if to say: "dafuq?"

The girl bent down to pick up her newly earned Ursaring.

"Well, regardless of what your name is, thanks. I wouldn't have caught this guy without your help." She threw the pokeball in the air and caught it with a flick of her wrist.

"Been tracking him all over Hoenn, whether or not you might believe it." She looked at me again and took in my dirty clothes and ratty hair. Then she noticed my sake.

"Oh. You're drunk. That's nice." She came over to me and held out a hand to help me up. I grasped hers and finally regained my voice.

"I... Uh, thanks. I don't know what I would've did if you hadn't shown up. M'name is Martin." She smiled at me as she hoisted me up.

"I could say the same. I couldn't get him to stop running long enough to catch him, before he found you." She looked around and then back to me.

"Did you really come out here with no Pokemon at all? What's wrong with you?" I looked at the ground. Unsteady and slightly ashamed in front of this incredibly strong and attractive trainer.

"Well... Ah, I have none. Not yet anyway." She laughed. God damn it. _Fuck, managed to not-impress another one._

"Alright, well... Let's get you home Martin. Where do you live?" My mind went sadly "derp" for a moment, then it all came back.

"I, uh. Just moved into the empty house in LittleRoot." At the sound of the towns name, she turned to look at me.

"LittleRoot? Oh so you must be the new kid, granddad called me about." I was about to lose my lunch from the uneven ground we were walking on so I just nodded.

"Welp, lets get you back, Martin," She turned to the Absol that ambled amiably on beside us.

"Absol, keep the other Pokemon at bay." The Absol jumped off into the trees, once more vanishing into a fleeting shadows. From the warm night air and the proximity of this beautiful trainer, I could feel myself begining to black out. I glanced up, just once, before I fell asleep. She was smiling at me.


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up the next day, slightly weaving, but otherwise not hungover. _Thank god for youthful resilience._ I thought to myself. I was amazingly in my bed, the bottle of sake (now empty) conveniently on the floor next to me.

Slowly I climbed out of bed and began to pad towards my door, barefoot. At the top of my stairs I paused, hearing voices coming from my kitchen. I stumbled down the stairs as quietly as possible and peeked around the corner into my kitchen. My mom was sitting on the counter sipping coffee and talking to...

It was her! The girl from last night! I quickly looked around and confirmed it when I saw her Absol lounging on the floor sharing a snack with my moms Wingull. I started to back away, but it was too late. Mom had already seen me.

"Martin! come in here and meet your saviour!" I groaned inwardly and shuffled into the kitchen. I glanced at the girl, at Tesla and saw she was wearing a huge grin.

"How's it going _Martin_?" She said. I thought I would die.

"Yeah... Hey." Mom beamed at us both like she had won the lottery and we were the prizes.

"She's gonna help you get your first pokemon, Martin!" Mom suddenly exclaimed excitedly. I almost cried inside. I shame-facedly glanced at Tesla.

She had a grin to match the Cheshire Cat. Shame I couldn't disappear as fast. So without a word, I slowly shuffled back out of the door and into my room.

Once there, I whipped the door closed and almost had a seizure of excitement. As crappy as it was to have a girl help me, **I was going to get my first pokemon!** This was amazing! I hurry and leapt into my outfit, the one I had picked out ages ago. My Trainer outfit.

Red Gloves - check

Black Shirt - Check

AWESOME Red and Black Jeans - Check

Completely wicked messenger bag - Check

Black boots - Got em.

I was ready to go and without further shame, I damn near jumped down the stairs. I noticed that my mom and Tesla had moved to the living room, because I saw both of them leap out of their chairs when I crashed to the bottom of the stairs. I ran towards the door, snagging Tesla's sleeve as I went. I slammed the door open, without even saying bye to Mom. I heard her yelling that it wasn't even my birthday yet. I ignored it.

"Got a meeting, Mom! Destiny wouldn't like it if I was late!" We ra along, me halfway dragging Tesla. Behind me I could hear the Absol bound off the porch.

"Be careful, Martin!" I heard her call out behind me.

"Of course, Mom!" I headed off towards Tesla's granddads lab, where I would get my first Pokemon.


End file.
